


Testing Boundaries

by BabyBottlePop



Series: Day by Day, Night by Night [16]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Age Play, Baby Louis, Baby Niall, Daddy Harry, Diapers, Family Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Infantilism, M/M, Mentions of Chronic Illness, Multi, Nick is practically a Daddy, Non-Sexual Age Play, Spanking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:07:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24905068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabyBottlePop/pseuds/BabyBottlePop
Summary: After finding out that his sister is pregnant, Harry goes to visit her, leaving his two Littles in Nick's care for the weekend. Usually Niall and Louis are very well behaved, but this time they test a few boundaries.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Niall Horan/Louis Tomlinson (non-sexual relationship), Nick Grimshaw & Louis Tomlinson, Nick Grimshaw & Niall Horan, Nick Grimshaw/Harry Styles
Series: Day by Day, Night by Night [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/487247
Comments: 22
Kudos: 102





	Testing Boundaries

When Harry learned that he was going to be an uncle, he was over the moon with joy. As a Caregiver, whether they be Littles or biological infants, babies were always a cause for excitement. In order to celebrate the news of his sister’s pregnancy, he felt the need to see her in person. That was where Nick, Harry’s long term steady boyfriend, came into the picture. Although he wouldn’t be accompanying Harry on the trip, he would still be doing something equally as fun. Nick would be staying at Harry’s house from Saturday to Sunday, taking on the duty of looking after Harry’s two sweet Littles.

He arrived just after breakfast Saturday morning, so that Harry could get an early start to his sister’s. 

“Hello love,” Nick greeted Harry, kissing him on the cheek. “Where are the boys?”

“They’re watching Moana right now,” Harry informed him, looking rather distraught. Nick figured he was probably a bit worried about being separated from his Littles for more than a day. Caregivers were often prone to separation anxiety just like Littles.

“Again?” Nick asked knowingly. “Well, at least it’s not Frozen. I know the entire script of that one by now.”

“I think both movies have lovely messages,” Harry said, sincere as usual, though he was biting his lip. “Um, Lou has been a bit cranky this morning. The humidity kept him coughing all night, so his sleep was disrupted.”

“Well, that’s-”

“And Niall!” Harry interrupted rather frantically. “That’s right, Niall. I think he might have swallowed a penny. He put three of them in his mouth, but I only managed to get two of them back out. Then he and Louis both started crying, so I put in Moana, and you got here, and-”

“Harold!” Nick stopped his rambling. “It’s just a penny. It should pass through just fine.”

“But you don’t know that for sure, Nick!”

“Actually I’m a doctor, so I can say that I’m fairly confident Niall will be alright. It’ll show up in his next nappy change, I’m guessing in a few hours. I’ve had a lot of frantic parents and caregivers come in because their child swallowed something, and it’s hardly ever been problematic.”

Nick said all of this as he fought back a smile. Harry was going into parental-overdrive. It made sense, seeing as he hated being away from his boys. In fact, _had_ Harry even been away from them for as long as two days before? Nick wasn’t so sure. 

“I’ve never left them for this long before,” Harry answered Nick’s internal question. “I don’t have to go right now, actually. I could wait a few days, to make sure they’re both alright.”

“Harry,” Nick sighed in fond exasperation. “Go celebrate with your sister. I think you’re forgetting what I do for a living, darling. I deal with sick, grumpy babies on a daily basis. I can handle the boys just fine; they’re literal sunshine.”

“Are you sure?” 

“More than sure. I’ll even text you when the coin comes out. No pictures though, that’d be vulgar. Now hurry up and get out of here so you can get to Holmes Chapel before dark.”

“Well...oh, alright. Thanks Nick,” Harry kissed his boyfriend on the lips. “Oh, one more thing. Their nursery is a pigsty right now. Can you have them clean it up tomorrow? You know that we’ve been working on responsibility lately, and cleaning up is a big part of that. Don’t let them give you any grief about it.”

“I’ll make sure they clean it,” Nick promised. 

They were both silent for a moment. Harry looked like he was quickly going through everything in his mind again. When it seemed that there were no other causes for concern, he let out a small sigh. 

“Well, I’m all packed. I just have to say goodbye to the boys.”

Silence. 

“Go on then,” Nick prompted, when it was clear that Harry was stalling, giving him a light hearted shove. 

This would be an interesting weekend. 

* * *

“Nicky, why couldn’t Auntie Gemmy and Nanna come here?”

“Because your auntie is the one who they’re going to be celebrating. When your daddy adopted you, I bet everyone came here to see you, didn’t they?”

“Yeah,” Louis nodded, still looking a little put out. 

“But why can’t we go too?” Niall asked. “I want to see the baby.”

Nick smiled. He knew Harry had tried to explain this to them, but it was difficult. “The baby isn’t born yet, remember what your daddy told you? It’s inside Auntie Gemmy’s tummy. This isn’t the kind of baby that gets adopted.”

Neither of the babies looked like they understood, but they would in time, especially when they saw their aunt by the time her belly was actually big.

Several hours after lunch, Niall went potty in his diaper, and Nick sent Harry the text he was sure he’d been waiting for. Then, Nick went to the nursery closet, already picturing potential outfits for the boys in his mind. 

He had to commend the boys; the nursery looked absolutely spotless. Not a single toy was left on the floor. They had followed his instructions well!

When he opened the door to the closet, however, he was met with an interesting surprise. The floor of the closet was completely covered in toys- toys that had previously covered the floor of the nursery itself. 

Shaking his head to himself, Nick called them. “Louis, Niall, come here please!” 

“Yes Nicky?” Louis questioned, though he and Niall both had _the_ _look_ ; in other words, they were doing their best to avoid Nick’s imploring gaze. 

“Why are your toys piled in the closet?”

Neither baby spoke. 

“You were supposed to clean them up. Do you know what that means?”

They both looked at one another warily, before looking back at Nick. Niall finally gave a verbal answer. 

“What, Nicky?”

“It means that we’re not getting pizza until your toys are back where they’re supposed to be. The blocks go in the bin, the cars go in their box, the dolls go in the toybox. Do you understand?”

Niall pouted and Louis scowled. It was adorable, and it took all of Nick’s willpower not to relent. 

“Want pizza,” Louis grumbled under his breath. 

“I do too,” Nick told him. “We’ll go as soon as your nursery is clean.”

Niall tugged on his sleeve. “Nicky, the nur-see _is_ clean!”

“The closet is part of the nursery too, Niall.”

Neither baby looked as though they were going to start cleaning. Nick sighed to himself and tried to imagine what Harry would do in this situation. 

“Alright, let’s all clean up together, how about that?” He suggested. “I’ll set a timer on my phone and we’ll see if we can beat it.”

Inclusion and competition were two methods that seemed to work when handling Harry’s babies. It worked, too, and they had the nursery clean in under fifteen minutes. Nick had to pat himself on the back for his quick thinking. 

* * *

Going out to eat was always considered a treat. Harry took his babies on special occasions, like birthdays, and once in a while if they had demonstrated an extended streak of good behavior. Nick figured that he owed it to the boys, since they were going to have to spend a night without their daddy. 

As soon as they had arrived at the restaurant, the babies took it as a sign to begin acting up. 

“I want that one!” Louis declared loudly, pointing at the triple chocolate brownie sundae pictured on the front of the dessert menu. 

“We’re having pizza,” Nick reminded him, already having decided on ordering a half-cheese and half-pepperoni one, along with a healthy salad. That would be more than enough food for the three of them, so dessert was not an option. 

“Why?” Louis let out a small while. “Nicky it looks yummy, we _have_ to get it!”

“Not tonight Lou-Lou,” Nick patiently responded. Louis huffed and kicked his feet under the table, looking like he was on the verge of saying something that would get him scolded. Nick quickly pointed to the coloring sheets on the table, where there were little activities such as a maze and a wordsearch. 

This appeased both of the babies long enough for Nick to give their order to the waitress. 

Until, that is, Niall decided to draw on Louis’ paper. 

“No!” Louis screeched, slapping Niall’s hand away. “That’s mine!”

“Louis William, we _do not_ hit!” Nick spoke sharply. Hitting was one of Harry’s biggest no-nos for the boys. “Niall, you have your own paper to draw on.”

“I was helping!” Niall defended himself. “I finished my maze, see? Lou-Lou was stuck on his!”

“No I wasn’t!”

“Yes you were!”

“Nuh-uh!”

“Uh-huh!”

“Boys!” Nick scolded. “If you keep on fighting then I’ll take both the papers away.”

His words were enough to get them to stop bothering one another, but not enough to get them to behave. Niall got up on his knees and stuck his head over to see who was eating in the booth beside them. 

“Hi!” The baby greeted the startled looking couple who were sharing dessert. 

Nick gave the table a sharp tap. “Niall James, you sit your bum down this instant!”

The baby did as he was told, but Louis, who also must have been curious, was now up on his knees peering over the booth as well. 

“Chocolate!” He cried out happily when he saw their food. “Can I have some, please and thank you?”

“ _Louis_!” Nick scolded, feeling rather mortified at the couple’s horrified faces. “Sit down!” 

Nick had been out to eat with Harry and the boys numerous times, but they had never acted so naughty before. Sure, they sometimes got fussy or impatient, but all babies did that. This was blatant acting out, and it was not funny in the least bit. 

“We’ll go home unless you can behave yourselves,” Nick warned. “You know better than to fight and misbehave in a restaurant. Your daddy has taught you better than that.”

“Sorry Nicky,” Niall seemed sincere.

Louis put a thumb in his mouth. “Wan’ Daddy.”

Nick felt a rush of guilt overcome him. Of course they would be missing Harry. That was no doubt the reason why they were acting out so much. 

“We’ll video call him when we get home, how about that?”

This seemed to appease the babies for the time being. That changed quickly when the food was brought to their table. 

“Me first!” Louis tugged the entire tray of pizza toward himself. 

“Hey!” Niall scowled. “You have to share, Lou-Lou!”

He grabbed the edge of the tray and tried jerking it back. This turned into a pizza tug-of-war game. It all happened so fast that Nick hardly had time to react to it. When he finally tried to stop them, it was too late. The entire pizza tray slid off the table and straight onto the floor, effectively ruining their dinner. 

Nick apologized profusely to the waitress for the mess, which the babies continued to bicker. It was so out of character for this; Niall and Louis hardly ever fought like this on normal occasions.

“-your fault!”

“Nuh-uh!”

“Uh-huh!”

“Niall James and Louis William,” Nick said slowly, in a low, serious tone. It was one that he had never used with the boys before. “Stop fighting. We’re leaving the restaurant.” 

He finally had their attention. After leaving some money on the table to pay for their spoiled meal, he led both Littles by the arms out of the restaurant. 

“I’m hungry,” Louis said, trying to pull himself out of Nick’s grasp. 

“Dinner will have to wait. You’re both going to get a punishment-” Nick started, but as soon as he used the ‘P’ word, both babies began to protest. 

“No, Nicky, no punishment! I didn’t mean it!”

“-was all Niall’s fault, not mine!”

Seeing as Louis was the one struggling the most, Nick did not hesitate to pull his diaper down and tug the protesting baby over his knee, right outside in the parking lot. He then began to deliver a set of sharp smacks to his bare bottom. 

Had the situation not been a serious one, Nick would have laughed at Louis’ expression of shock. This was, afterall, the first time that he had ever disciplined the babies. Harry was always the one to do that, seeing as he was their official caregiver. 

But Nick had been dating Harry long enough for the boys to become permanent fixtures in his life. Someday, Nick knew, he was going to ask Harry to marry him. He wasn’t going to rush it, but it was something he just _knew_ was going to happen. Seeing as he already saw Harry as something close to a husband, he saw these two beautiful babies as his own too, even when they were acting like little monsters. 

Once the initial shock was out of the way, Louis began to wail with vigor, wriggling and trying to escape the wrath of Nick’s hand, but the caregiver only held him tighter. 

“I expect you to be on your best behavior when we go out to eat,” he lectured through the spanking. “This was supposed to be a fun night. I asked you over and over again to behave, but you didn’t listen. Just because Daddy isn’t here does _not_ mean you get to misbehave.”

Louis only cried harder, though he had given up with his struggles and gone limp. Nick decided that ten swats was more than enough, and so he stopped the punishment. 

“Easy now love,” he soothed, standing back up and setting the chastised baby onto his feet. Now knowing that his spanking was over, Louis’ cries died down, though he still whimpered to himself, especially when Nick pulled his diaper back into place. 

One baby down, one to go. 

Niall, who hadn’t let out so much as a peep while he watched his brother’s spanking with wide eyes, soon realized that his turn was next. He began bawling before Nick even had a chance to get his diaper down, which made it all the more painful for Nick. 

The little Irish baby was much less of a fighter when it came to getting spanked. He seemed to already be resigned to his fate, tearfully clutching onto Nick’s pant leg while the caregiver delivered a series of smacks to his pale bum.

“The same goes for you Niall,” Nick lectured. “I’m very disappointed with both of your behaviors today.”

The ten swats ended as quickly as they had begun. Once Niall’s spanking was over, Nick drew the baby close to him with one arm, and held the other out to beckon Louis over, who came forward at once. 

“I didn’t like having to spank you, so I hope that you’ll listen to me the next time I tell you not to do something. I know you’re missing your daddy, and he’ll be home tomorrow night. But your daddy put his trust in me to take care of you, and he wants you to be safe and respectful, just like how you behave for him.”

Niall’s eyes smarted with tears again. “M’sorry Nicky. Won’t be bad again. I was n-naughty.”

Louis was gripping Nick’s arm tight enough to cut off the circulation. 

“Don’t leave,” The saddened baby whispered. “Please Nicky. I love you, I love you even more than Daddy loves you.”

That, as expected, caused Niall to panic as well. “I love you too, Nicky, don’t go!”

“Boys, boys!” Nick hugged them tightly, feeling his eyes well up. “Enough of that. You know that I won’t ever, _ever_ leave you, or your daddy for that matter. I love you both very much. There’s nothing that will ever make me stop loving you.”

Niall seemed appeased by this answer, but Louis still clutched him tightly, hiccuping. The crying had probably worked up his sensitive lungs as well, so Nick planned to give him his nebulizer before bed, just to be on the safe side. 

“Look at me Louis,” Nick tilted his chin up. “Do you remember the talk we once had in the store? I promised you that I wouldn’t ever leave you, and I’m still keeping that promise.”**

“E-Even if we’re the naughtiest babies ever?”

“Even if you’re the naughtiest babies ever,” Nick agreed. “But you aren’t. You’re the bestest, sweetest, loveliest babies in the world. My absolute favorites. You’re both forgiven.” 

* * *

The remainder of the night was a quiet but peaceful one. Nick bathed Louis and Niall together and put them in fresh nappies afterwards. He tried not to feel guilty at seeing the remaining traces of red on their bums from the punishment. It was almost completely faded, but not all the way. Neither baby seemed very bothered, though, much to his relief. 

Since their pizza dinner had been ruined, Nick fixed them each a warm bottle of formula instead. It didn’t take either baby long to finish, as it was a rather late dinner. He set them up on Harry’s big bed and then used his phone to request a video call to Harry. 

“We’ll give Daddy a call before your story, how does that sound?”

“Daddy!” Louis bounced up and down between the pillows, milk dribbling from his mouth and onto the sheets. Niall was equally as excited, tossing his own bottle aside as he tried to get as close to the phone as possible. 

When Nick was able to calm the babies and actually dial, it took Harry only two rings to answer. 

Louis and Niall were both speaking at the same time, telling their daddy excitedly about every single detail of the day since they had last seen him. Nick listened on fondly, until the boys began talking about the restaurant.

“-and after we cleaned the nur-see, we went to have pizza-”

“-pizza looked so yummy, but we ruined it-”

“-and we got spanked for being naughty-”

“-and got ouchies on our bums for being bad-”

Nick winced. He hadn’t wanted Harry to find out about the spanking that way. He had planned on calling Harry later, to explain and apologize if it turned out that he’d overstepped his bounds. 

Realistically, Nick knew that the boys were no strangers to getting disciplined. He had witnessed Harry taking them over his knee on numerous occasions, if they acted out or put themselves in danger. It was never an overly harsh punishment, as they were only babies after all. More often than not, Harry would simply give them a few warning swats on the backs of their diapers, and that would be enough to change their attitude. Nick had done it bare bottomed though, which was a little harsh for a first time spanking from him. 

If Harry was upset about it, he didn’t show it in front of his littles. 

“You know better than to behave like that,” Harry scolded them. “You both love Nicky very much, so I’m sure you’ll do your best and behave like angels, won’t you?”

“We will, Daddy!” Niall agreed, squeezing Nick tightly as a confirmation. 

“I’ll try my best,” Louis said, smiling cutely behind the empty bottle still tucked between his teeth. “‘Cept Nicky says I have to have the nebu-tizer before bed, so it’ll be hard, Daddy.”

“As long as you try your best,” Harry said, fighting back a grin. 

* * *

One nebulizer treatment and two stories later, both the babies were passed out in their cribs. That gave Nick the chance to call Harry back by himself, so he could properly discuss what had happened at the restaurant. 

“I understand if you’re upset with me,” he said, after he went further in depth about the spanking. “I should have asked your permission first. I just...reacted, as if they were my own littles.”

“Nick, I trust you. They’re practically your kids too, you know. Besides, I know you’d never hurt them. There’s a reason I asked you to watch them for me.”

“You’re right, I swear I would never truly hurt them. I just...I hope I didn’t startle them or anything. I’ve never really had to discipline them before, so it was probably unexpected. I hope they aren’t afraid of me.”

“Trust me Nick, sometimes a sore bum is the only option when it comes to those two. Especially Lou. Littles are...well, you’ve taken the Little development classes. They respond well to discipline.”

“I guess you’re right,” Nick finally relented, feeling a bit weird. For some reason, he had truly feared that Harry might be angry with him. This conversation was a lot more different than he’d imagined it would be. 

“Stop feeling guilty. You did it exactly the right way; You didn’t spank them out of anger, and you only used it as a last resort. My boys know better than to act that way at a restaurant. You did exactly what I would have done. They were testing you, Nick, and I think that you passed with flying colors.”

That was certainly _true_ , and so Nick’s chest began to feel slightly less heavy than it had been before.

“Thank you Harry,” Nick said fondly. “Thank you for allowing your precious Littles into my life. They mean the world to me, and so do you.”

“We love you too Nick,” Harry said. 

After they said goodnight, Nick went to check on the babies one more time. He leaned into each crib and gave them both forehead kisses. Tomorrow, he decided, he would cook them a wonderful breakfast at home. He would even pretend to be a waiter if they wanted him to, so that they could order their meals and play ‘restaurant’.

What wonderful boys they were.

* * *

** The store talk is a reference to 'The Sleeping Phase,' another part of the series!  
  
  
Check out some _Day by Day, Night by Night_ facts/snippets [here](https://bashfulbabybottlepop.tumblr.com/post/158608758133/day-by-day-night-by-night-fact-list-3) if you enjoy the series!  
  


Feel free to visit me on Tumblr at [bashfulbabybottlepop](https://bashfulbabybottlepop.tumblr.com/)

It’s open to everyone, whether you want to chat about my fics, are Little or Big, or simply have questions. Consider it a safe space for all! :)

**Author's Note:**

> It's been far too long since I've posted for this series. I hope everyone enjoyed! 
> 
> Feedback would be wonderful, and please feel welcome to visit my tumblr at bashfulbabybottlepop too!
> 
> <3


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